Nba's Stern: Lottery Needs To Be Revised

May 28, 1993|By Tim Povtak of The Sentinel Staff

PHOENIX — NBA Commissioner David Stern said he would support a change in the tiebreaker procedure that kept the Magic out of the playoffs and a change in the draft-lottery rules that allowed the Magic to land the No. 1 pick in the June 30 draft.

''Institutionally, we have a problem with it,'' Stern said of Orlando's getting the No. 1 pick despite having the best record of the non-playoff teams. ''That's why the lottery is weighted, so that it is unlikely to happen. The 11th-worst team statistically isn't supposed to get the first choice. I think the owners will be interested in revisiting this issue.''

The lottery is designed so that the worst team has the best chance of winning and the second-worst team has the second-best chance. The Magic had just a 1-in-66 chance of winning. As the second-worst team the year before, they had won the lottery and drafted center Shaquille O'Neal.

''I think generally the lottery is a good idea,'' Stern said. ''I don't think this uproar now would exist if Orlando had gotten the third pick.''

Stern said he has heard from a variety of people with complaints about the lottery.

Stern suggested several adjustments: A rule that limits the number of times a team could get the first pick; a system in which a team that picked first one year can't pick higher than fourth the next; or a system that gives the worst teams an even bigger advantage in winning the lottery.

Dallas, Minnesota and Washington, the three worst teams last season, are picking fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, in the draft.

Although they won 41 games this season, the Magic lost the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot to Indiana on the fourth tiebreaker, which was point differential in head-to-head matchups.

''That's a dumb rule,'' Stern said. ''And that's coming from someone who is responsible for it. . . . A two-point win should count as much as a 20-point win.

''I think if it gets down that far, you'd be better off bringing in the silver dollar, flip it and see what happens. They (the Magic) probably would feel better about losing a playoff spot on a flip than the other way.''